CAREER: Genomic Analyses of Streptomyces Bacteria Producing Engineered Natural Products

Stanford University, Stanford CA

Investigators

Abstract

The PI's research objectives are to define new strategies for improving the production properties of Streptomyces coelicolor in a rational and efficient manner. The PI's work will be one of the first attempts in an academic setting to conduct genomic analyses of natural product production in Streptomyces. Her laboratory is uniquely positioned to carry out such studies, since she has direct experience in both genomics and Streptomyces natural products research. The PI plans to establish DNA microarray technology in-house, which will be a fundamental component of her research program. The PI's initial experiments with the S. coelicolor production system will provide a comprehensive set of genomic data from which new hypotheses about natural product generation can be formulated. These exploratory studies should then suggest how genes and cellular pathways might be engineered to improve the properties of the production strains, and will be followed by experiments that test and further build on these hypotheses. The PI's research will contribute to various educational efforts in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Stanford University. The graduate students conducting these studies will gain expertise in genomic methods, and will be able to seed DNA microarray technology in other research settings in their post-graduate careers. In addition, the PI plans to incorporate DNA microarray technology into the undergraduate chemical engineering laboratory course, so that their undergraduate students also gain exposure to these new genomic methods. Finally, she will establish the technology as a resource for interdisciplinary research between biological and non-biological research groups in the department. Thus the presence of DNA microarray technology should foster a wide range of interdisciplinary activities, spanning both research and education objectives, in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Stanford.